Dry Cuticles and Dry Lips From Wearing Disposable Gloves and Masks

I work in a dentist office and use non-powdered gloves and disposable face masks. My cuticles are very dry and itchy and are coming up off the nail bed and my lips are also itchy and dry and peeling. Both my nails and lips are painful. I've tried vaseline, chapstick, aveeno lip moisturizer, bendryl allergy cream, triple antibiotic on both my lips and nails. None of it has helped. I'm desperate for a solution.

I don't know what to tell you about your lips, but, every night, roll a pair of cotton socks down to the toe like you would knee-hi's. Slather your hands with Vaseline or baby cream or even Crisco. Then, roll the socks down onto your hands, being careful not to wipe the Vaseline. Wear them all night and you'll be surprised to see how healed they are. Aunt Sharon from Texas

I highly recommend that you try Red Clover Salve or Old Red Barn Salve from Watkins. I am an Independent Watkins Associate, and these products are just great for dry skin and cuticle problems. Red Clover is great for rashes as well, and many people like this salve for itchy rashes and eczema, but it's also rubbed into your hands and around cuticles. This salve contains bee pollen, lanolin and vitamin E in a base of olive and safflower oils. It has a really nice smell.

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The Old Red Barn Salve is really great for rough, dry hands and has lavender and chamomile oils blended with vitamin E and eucalyptus in a base of canola and sweet almond oils and beeswax. With your profession (as well as colder weather coming on), I think either one or both of these would really help you. I have a sample of both if you'd like me to send you one, and I can send you a catalog too, if you wish.

hi, take some vaseline just enough to cover your hands and while rubbing this in do it under running warm to very warm water... the warmer the better... sort of melts the vaseline... then wipe off excess and dry hands... there will be a coating over your hands that will protect you throughout the day or halfway through...

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you may also be allergic to the gloves... i am a dental lab technician and i do this all the time it has become a way of life and protects my hands during the winter... if you use too much you will know... it should be unnoticable if applied properly... it makes your skin look beautiful... good luck

For years my favorite remedy for dry lips, cuticles and hands has been A & D Ointment (sold by the tube with the diaper rash remedies in baby sections). It has a distinctive smell (not perfume) and taste (needs some getting used to) but works great!

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I use it before going to bed and after washing. I also put a bit in a small cosmetics jar and carry it in my purse to use everywhere.

Use "Bag Balm", you can get it most pharmacies, in the health and beauty sections of some supermarkets or in farm/feed stores or at a vets....you can even buy it "on line" do a "bag balm" search on Google. Its in a green tin and lasts a very long time. It was originally used to keep cow udders from getting chapped in cold Vermont I believe.

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Anyway, I was an ICU/CCU nurse for years in upstate New York where the winters were very cold and we (the ICU staff ) kept a tin so we could all keep our frequently gloved and much washed hands normal. Its worked great, on hands, elbows and feet and anywhere else that gets dry.

I highly recommend A & D ointment which can be purchased at the pharmacy dept. at a dept store (like Wal-Mart, Target, etc.). I was introduced to this product, which has Vitiamins A & D in petroleum jelly (Vaseline) when my oldest son was in a hospital with a earlier mis-diagnosed ruptured appendix. He had cracks on his lips due to fever from the infection and literally overnight, the healing was visibly seen to have started!

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I've used this on my own cuticles in the winter (in Minnesota!), putting it on at night and wearing old dress cotton gloves to bed to keep the product from getting in my hair, on the sheets, etc. It also helps to keep the body heat in to keep the product soft. It's great on chapped lips, too, and can be used over your lip color. I strongly believe this will do it for you! Good Luck!

About your lips, do you drink your daily 8 glasses of water? If not, this could be the reason. Neosporin has out a lip ointment, that's really good. Also, I sometimes use a tea tree oil lip balm (got it at a health food store). Both work well.

I will try the A & D...I have tried everything else on the market and the condition has not improved...my lips are so sore and burn, plus I have cracks in the corners that just will not heal...I drink plenty of water...I hope this works